Spring 2011

Continued page 2

CITY BUILDINGS OF THE PAST

On November 7, 2010, the Sachse City Council held an open house to showcase the new campus which houses Sachse’s City Hall, Police Station, Fire Department and Senior Facilities. With the up to date electronics and state of the art green buildings, residents of Sachse truly have something for which to be proud. However, it has not always been this way. In the past the City has made use of ex-isting old buildings. This is the first time buildings have been built for a specific use by the City. The 2011 issue of the Copper Roof Newsletter will return to the past and take a look at previous buildings the City has used for its facilities. This Spring Edition features the Sachse Fire Department buildings. The Summer Edition will highlight the City’s five city halls and the summer edition will take a look at the Police Department buildings. In the Fall we will visit the Library and Senior Citizen facilities. We hope you will enjoy this return to the past with a sense of appreciation for the City’s newest facilities.

PAST FIRE STATIONS

The Sachse Volunteer Fire Department was first organized on September 15, 1961 with the help of Mr. Hal Hood, Dallas County Fire Marshall. At a meeting with the Town Council and residents, Mr. Hood explained that the firemen would be volunteers, they would need a place to store a fire truck, a place to meet once a week and they would need to work out drills for the firemen. Since they had no money to begin, Mr. Hood committed Dallas County to assist with $2,500.00 per year but said the Town would “have to have a fire truck housed by the beginning of 1962.” He explained that although the Town Council would receive the check of $2,500.00 each month, the fire station would actually be owned by the Volunteer Fire Depart-ment and not the Town. The Council began looking for a building and decided on one located on Hwy 78 between Third St. and Sachse Rd. The building was at one time a grocery store owned and Mr. John Skinner and he agreed to sell it to the Volunteer Fire De-partment for $1,000 This building served as the Fire Hall for the next four years.

By September of 1965 the Volunteer Fire De-partment purchased a second truck and this building had become too small. On November 30, 1965 the Volunteer Fire Department Board of Trustees signed a loan agreement with the First National Bank of Garland for $15,863.00. Of this amount $9,500.00 was for the purchase of a two bay welding shop on Hwy 78. The remaining $6363.00 was to be used for making improvements to this metal building.

www.sachsehistoricalsociety.org Spring 2011, page 2

Soon after moving into their relocation, the volun-teer firemen began work on the expansion and improve-ments to the building. They enlarged the building to in-clude three additional bays for future growth. Notice in the picture at the right, the siren which was high enough at the time to be heard all over town. This siren called the Volunteer Firemen to come to the station in response to a fire. It is currently installed beside the fire truck at the Sachse Historical Museum. This building served the City until it was vacated in 2010.

By the turn of the century the City had

grown to the point that it took more than volun-teers to adequately cover the City for fires. Also, it took more equipment than could be housed at the present location. The previous fire stations had been located south of the railroad tracks and there had always been a concern that the firemen could not reach the fire in the event that a long train blocked the roads crossing the tracks. Along with the employment of full time firefighters and the purchase of more fire trucks, the City Council constructed its first fire station, on the north side of the railroad tracks, at the corner of Ranch and Dewitt Roads.

The City’s newest station located on the

City Hall campus is a state-of-the-art facility with bays for three fire trucks and two ambu-lances, an exercise room, sleeping quarters for ten firefighters, a kitchen, day room and train-ing classroom. The bonds to build the station included a new Class C Pumper and 2 new am-bulances. The most up-to-date electronics for communication have been installed in the dispatch office for both fire and police.

Past Fire Stations continued

SHS 21st ANNUAL MEETING, March 20, 2011

The Sachse Historical Society will hold its 21st Annual Meeting at the Charles Smith Funeral Home auditorium at 2:00 pm on Sunday, March 20, 2011. During the Annual Meeting the Board of Directors and various Committees will provide reports of activities. Plans for the coming year will be presented and a Board of Directors for 2011 will be elected. This year several changes in the By-laws will be recommended and voted on by the membership. There will be an interesting program about the Peters Colony and the role it played in the settlement of pioneers in the Sachse area. The Sachse Historical Society has a membership of 74 persons. The public is invited and welcomed to attend the Annual Meeting. The Charles Smith Funeral Home is located on the NE corner of Hwy 78 and Fifth Street in Sachse.

www.sachsehistoricalsociety.org Spring 2011, page 3

SHS TRACTORS USHER SANTA INTO TOWN

The Sachse Historical Society helped usher Santa Claus into town during the 3rd Annual Christ-mas Parade on Saturday, December 11th. Shown in the photographs are the two tractors the Soci-ety lined up with the band, drill team, various floats, dance studios and City fire truck carrying the big guy, Santa himself. The theme of this year’s parade was “My favorite Christmas Story.” Sev-eral hundred people lined up along Miles Road with their children to welcome Santa.

The rusty, orange tractor, in the photograph, a 1939 Allis Chalmers tractor is owned by the Historical Society. Here it is being driven by Lloyd Henderson and is on per-manent display at the Historical Society’s Museum. Jim Becker is driving his own 1979 International Cub. Jim and Lloyd serve on the Historical Society’s Farm Imple-ment Display Committee and were instrumental in restor-ing the Allis Chalmers to running condition.

Sachse was a small town until recent years and most of the town’s businesses were supported by surround-ing farms and ranches. The Historical Society takes pride in their display of various farm machinery, most of which was used between 1920 and 1955 on neighboring farms. The Museum’s Farm Equipment display, located at 3033 Sixth Street, is open to the public at any time during the day.

Lloyd Jim

Just a reminder that it is Membership Renewal Time. Membership Renewal forms were mailed to current SHS members in January. If you did not receive one please let us know by dropping a note to SHS Historical Museum, 3033 Sixth St., Sachse, TX 75048. Member-ship dues are $10.00 for a single or family, $50.00 for Corporate, $2,000.00 for Signature, $1,500 for Premier, $1,500.00 for Preferred and $1,000.00 for Supporting Memberships. Please make checks out to Sachse Historical Society. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Spring 2011, page 4 www.sachsehistoricalsociety.org

Our 2011 Supporting Sponsor

Sachse Historical Society

Board of Directors

Lloyd Henderson, President

Virginia Stone, Vice President

Roger Brand, Treasurer

Open, Secretary

Directors:

Pat Aston

Roger Brand

Cara Cooper

Gerry Cooper

Steve Hammerle

Lloyd Henderson

Connor Myers

Anna Sanchez

Charles Smith

Ed Stelnicki

Virginia Stone

Janis Tillerson

2011 Premier Sponsor

Sachse Cemetery Association

2011 Premier Sponsor

Sachse Economic Development Corporation

Sachse Historical Society Newsletter

Volume 9, Issue 1

Editor: Eileen McConnell Articles: Lloyd Henderson

“Allis-Chalmers” company was formed by merging the Edward P. Allis Co. (began 1840’s, Delaware incorpora-tion), Fraser and Chalmers Company and Gates Iron Works. Shortly after, Allis-Chalmers purchased land a few miles west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in what became West Allis. At one time the manu-facturing facility near Milwaukee was so large it was used as a landmark. Rumor has it that the city of West Allis was named because it was “west of Allis”. Allis-Chalmers built its first farm tractor in 1914 becoming known for their bright orange colored farm trac-tors. The tractor business grew, and in 1928 Allis-Chalmers purchased Monarch Tractor Company, giving the company a line of crawler tractors. More acquisition occurred over the years, such as the LaCrosse Plow Com-pany and Advance-Rumely added an extensive line of tillage implements, threshers and combines to the line-up As the roaring 20’s came to an end, business began to slow as the stock market crash of 1929 proved devastating to the Tractor manufactures. Farm equipment companies closed their doors at a rapid rate. Many trac-tor companies disappeared, but other distressed companies were picked up by financially able competitors for their debts or for pennies on the dollar. Allis-Chalmers, with the purchase of the Advance-Rumely Thresher Company in 1931, continued to expand its manufacturing capabili-ties to include tillage implements and harvesters. This purchase thrust Allis-Chalmers into the position of the fourth largest farm equipment maker in the United States.

Rumely OilPull Tractor,

used oil for cooling

instead of water

SHS 1939 Allis-Chalmers, Model B

Vintage Farm Advertising Posters

ANTIQUE FARMING ALLIS-CHALMERS